Rivers, Hawkins land at CSU for chalk talk

Posted By
Natalie Meisler
On
February 23, 2011 @ 5:02 pm
In
Colorado State University,University of Colorado |
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Colorado State football coach Steve Fairchild was all a-Twitter Wednesday over San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers briefly addressing the team and chatting with the offensive staff.

“As sharp of a football mind as I’ve seen,” Fairchild said in a Tweet. In a follow-up conversation, Fairchild added he had never met a more impressive spring offseason speaker and “We were very fortunate to have him come spend a day here.”

The visitor that might have both Rams and Buffs fans buzzing more is former Colorado coach Dan Hawkins. The ex-Buff coached dropped on offseason workouts last week at Fairchild’s invitation.

“I was interested in his opinion on a few things. I think he is a really good person,”
Fairchild said.

Hawkins has kept a very low profile since his ouster in November. His visit to Fort Collins shows that he and Fairchild were indeed sincere about their friendship when they exchanged niceties before the Rocky Mountain Showdown each year.

Fairchild said he wasn’t in a position to divulge any plans Hawkins has for his immediate future. Hawkins isn’t applying for CSU’s current staff vacancy.

“It was a chance to catch up with a friend,” Fairchild said.

Hawkins’ wasn’t the only coach fired at one of the rivals to visit the other. Nearly 20 years ago, Earle Bruce went to Boulder to ask Bill McCartney to hire some of his unemployed assistants. Never mind their CSU-CU bad blood. Bruce and McCartney were Ohio State-Michigan adversaries.

More recently, ex-CU coach Gary Barnett dropped in on Sonny Lubick practices at CSU. Then after he was fired, Lubick had a standing invitation from Hawkins to attend CU practice.

The window between signing day and the start of spring football is a rare chance for college coaches to unwind and visit with colleagues and sometimes, NFL personnel. Fairchild also had ex-teammate Chris Foerster in for a visit. Foerster is Mike Shanahan’s offensive line coach with the Washington Redskins.

Last year Norm Chow, one of the best offensive minds in the college ranks, visited with Fairchild’s staff.

Rivers connection with CSU is through offensive coordinator and line coach Past Meyers, who was Rivers’ strength and conditioning coach at North Carolina State.

In a quick catch-up chat, Fairchild told me he’s happy with the progress in offseason workouts. He’s making progress on filling the job created by linebackers coach Scott Brown’s departure to Arizona State but was not giving any hints.